Devon grinned. “Oh, I knew it already, otherwise I wouldn’t have hired you myself. I just wanted to hear someone else hated the bastard as much as I did.”
“I don’t think anyone could hate him more than you do, Devon.”
With that statement hanging in the air, Devon tuned in to the furious commotion taking place. Suddenly the bidding had reached its zenith and a tall, elderly woman smiled triumphantly as the dainty writing desk became hers.
Several objects came and went just as quickly and with just as much fervor. Jewel remained motionless. “Christ, how can she stand it?” Devon wondered out loud as he raked a hand through his hair, shuddering inwardly at the callous way her mother’s possessions were disposed of.
“If you look close enough, you’ll see she can’t.”
Narrowing his eyes, Devon sought out any sign in her demeanor that gave away her emotions. There, he’d seen her flinch and stiffen her shoulders ever so slightly as if shoring up her reserves for the next grave insult to her dead mother.
The announcement for the next item boomed over the squealing microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lovely silver antique hair, comb, mirror and tray set. Who’ll start the bidding at fifty dollars?”
Jewel’s hand shot up, the numbered paddle firmly grasped in her white-knuckled grip. Her abrupt action startled Devon. She wants this one bad. So, why should I care? But I do.
“Fifty dollars from number forty on my right to start us off,” the auctioneer cried. “Do I have sixty?” At the middle-aged man in the corner who raised his paddle, the announcer pointed, and then said, “I’ve got sixty. Can I have seventy?” The woman who had bought the desk bid. “Seventy. How about eighty?”
Devon grew dizzy as the frantic bidding war bounced back and forth at an accelerated pace. The man dropped out at two hundred dollars, but the white-haired lady challenged Jewel at every turn.
Silent until now, Gil said in an aside, “She’s from out of town or she’d have refused to bid against Jewel.”
Half-hearing the muttered words, Devon asked, “Huh?”
“Everyone who lives in town hasn’t bid at all on this item. The only reason I can figure is because they want Jewel to have it. They may not say it or show it, but they know the raw deal she got from the son-of-a-bitch. And they truly like her.”
Stunned wonder filled Devon. No one had ever done anything like that for him before. Well, Jewel… He stopped that thought as quickly as it formed. He jerked his head to the other woman. “And her?”
“Probably a regular auction goer who saw the notice in the papers. Looks like she may win this one, too.”
The man conducting the event yelled out, “We’ve got four hundred from the lady to my left. What about you, number forty, do I have four twenty five?”
Slowly, Jewel shook her head and dropped her hand to her lap. Dejection was in every line of her slumped shoulders. Something twisted inside Devon. The majority of the crowd moaned as if they shared Jewel’s pain.
“Well, now, four hundred going once…going twice…” He dragged it out.
Devon stepped forward, saying, “Five hundred dollars!”
A collective gasp rose up from the attendees.
He ignored them all, all except Jewel as she whipped her head around to face him. It felt as if a mule had kicked him in his gut, robbing him of air. He read the suffering in her eyes at the proceedings taking place and the shock of his boldness. But her beauty shook him to his core. She’d far exceeded his dreams of how she’d look when he saw her again, ripping him in two and propelling him back in time when he’d had the privilege of holding her close and making her his. I wish I could do the same right now.
Loud coughing over the microphone jarred him back to the present. “Sir, do you have a number? Did you register to bid today?”
He couldn’t take his gaze off of Jewel. “No.”
“Then I’m sorry, but you can’t participate—”
“The hell I can’t!” That earned Devon more flabbergasted noises and several protests to boot.
A hand descended on his shoulder, squeezing hard with a warning. “Let me handle this, Devon.”
Twisting back briefly to look at his lawyer, Devon said under his breath, “I thought you said as my attorney you only took care of my legal concerns.”
“Ah…I’ll make an exception this one time.”
“Forget it, Gil. I’ll do it my way.”
“You always did, so why should I expect different now?” He heard the smile in Gil’s voice, then felt the pressure of the lawyer’s hand slip away.
To the head honcho, Devon directed his next words. “I’m bidding on behalf of the lady here.” He nodded to Jewel and she paled considerably. “I’m prepared to go as high as necessary in order to buy the set for her. Any more questions?”
The flustered man cleared his throat. “No, none at all. We’ve got five hundred going once, going twice, sold,” he rushed out, bringing the gavel down hard and ending any further discussion from the clearly stunned audience.
Heat burned in Jewel’s cheeks as she rose, leaving the numbered paddle in her seat. Making mumbled pardons to the people in her aisle, she quickly stepped over their feet, nearly tripping twice in her haste. Finally, she gained her freedom and walked with determined strides to her car parked among a group of others on the lawn. Don’t let anyone suspect how upset you are.
“Jewel, wait up.” Devon’s rich voice strummed along her nerve endings.
Halting at her rundown blue car, she turned slowly as she cursed herself for coming here today, for wanting to preserve a piece of her mother and her past. He stopped a foot away, jamming his hands in his pockets, something she recalled him doing numerous times while growing up. Maybe the Devon she once knew hadn’t completely vanished after all.
She couldn’t help but take in the man he had become. Tanned, powerfully built, sophisticated, ruthless. She read the last hard quality in his cold, penetrating gaze. A sinking sensation rippled through her. He’s come back to play out his revenge.
Gulping hard, she shook off the acute awareness that buzzed between them. Jewel broke the charged silence by calling up her anger. “If you intended to humiliate me, you did a good job.”
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Contents
Title page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
About the author:
Other books by Laurie LeClair
Crimes Of The Heart
Table of Contents
Title page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Ch
apter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
About the author:
Other books by Laurie LeClair
Crimes Of The Heart
Secrets Of The Heart (Book 1, The Heart Series) Page 25
